Intelligent Design vs. Creationism

By Steve Reuland

With ID getting lots of press these days, and with an on-going court case trying to establish if ID is any different than creationism of yore, people can sometimes get confused about what exactly ID is. This can’t possibly be due to the ID advocates’ own equivocation and ambiguity, it must somehow be our fault, because otherwise they wouldn’t keep blaming us. So in order to help them out, I thought I would create a handy-dandy table comparing the attributes of ID, young-Earth creationism, and old-Earth creationism. That way, no one need get them confused ever again.

** Young-Earth Creationism Old-Earth Creationism Intelligent Design
Age of the Earth 6000-10,000 years old. ~4.5 billion years old. We don’t know. And besides, it’s really not ripe for debate yet.
What was created/designed? All “kinds” (baramin) of living things. All “kinds” (baramin) of living things. Some feature(s) of the universe, including but not limited to living things, although it’s not clear which feature(s) of living things were actually designed.
Who was the creator/designer? God of the Bible. God of the Bible. Some unknown and unknowable “intelligence”, which we coincidentally happen to believe is God of the Bible.
What was the mechanism of design? Divine intervention. Divine intervention. We don’t know, but we know it can’t be “natural”, which implies divine intervention.
Evolution is… The cause of most of society’s ills. The cause of most of society’s ills. The cause of most of society’s ills.
Noah’s Flood… Was global in scale and occurred about 4000 years ago, exactly as described in Genesis. May have been local or global; may have occurred a long time ago or more recently, depending on who you ask. “They’ll ask, ‘What do you think of Noah’s flood?’ or something like that. Never bite on such questions because they’ll lead you into a trackless wasteland and you’ll never get out of it.”
Evolution and belief in God are… Incompatible. Incompatible. Incompatible.
Wants ideas taught in public schools? Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean no. I mean yes. I mean, look, we’ve been consistent and clear on this, so what’s the problem?
Do humans and apes share a common ancestor? No. No. Usually no. Occasionally yes. Sometimes I don’t know. And sometimes both no and I don’t know at the same time.
Claims to have science on their side? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Why do scientists almost universally reject them? Because they’re all a bunch of atheists, libruls, and ivory tower elitists who can’t be trusted. Because they’re all a bunch of atheists, libruls, and ivory tower elitists who can’t be trusted. Because they’re all a bunch of atheists, libruls, and ivory tower elitists who can’t be trusted.

There, hopefully that will settle things. There is really no need for anyone to be confused about where the ID movement stands on various creationist issues, given the straight-forward, no-nonsense approach that they use. We apologize for any misunderstanding caused by our part.